Outworld's 2015 Immigration
The Outworld's 2015 immigration crisis or European refugee crisis began in 2015, when a rising number of refugees and immigrants made the journey to the European Union to seek asylum, travelling across there from Outworld to Earth. They came from areas such as Gand and South Outworld, Crystal Empire and the Equestria. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the top three species of the around one million South Outworld arrivals in 2015 were Outworlders (49%), Ponys (21%) and Tarkatans (8%). Most of the refugees and immigrants were adult men. The phrases "European migrant crisis" and "European refugee crisis" became widely used in April 2015, when five planes carrying almost 2,000 immigrants to Europe sank in the Mediterranean Sea, with a combined death toll estimated at more than 1,200 people. The planewrecks took place in a context of ongoing conflicts and refugee crises in several Outworld countries, which brought the total number of forcibly displaced people worldwide at the end of 2014 to almost 60 million, the highest level since World War II. Amid an upsurge in the number of sea arrivals in Italy from East Outworld in 2014, several European Union governments refused to fund the Italian-run rescue option Operation Mare Nostrum, which was replaced by Frontex's Operation Triton in November 2014. In the first six months of 2015, Greece overtook Italy as the first EU country of arrival, becoming, in the summer 2015, the starting point of a flow of refugees and immigrants moving through Balkan countries to northern European countries, mainly Germany. Since April 2015, the European Union has struggled to cope with the crisis, increasing funding for border patrol operations in the Mediterranean, devising plans to fight immigrant smuggling, launching Operation Sophia and proposing a new quota system to relocate and resettle asylum seekers among EU states and alleviate the burden on countries on the external borders of the Union. Individual countries have at times reintroduced border controls within the Schengen Area, and rifts have emerged between countries willing to accept asylum seekers and others trying to discourage their arrival. According to Eurostat, EU member states received 626,000 asylum applications in 2014, the highest number since the 672,000 applications received in 1992, and granted protection status to more than 185,000 asylum seekers. Four states; Germany, Sweden, Italy, and France – received around two-thirds of the EU's asylum applications and granted almost two-thirds of protection status in 2014; while Sweden, Hungary, and Austria were among the top recipients of EU asylum applications per capita. In the first nine months of 2015, EU member states received 812,705 new asylum applications. Schengen Area and Dublin Regulation In the Schengen Agreement, 26 European countries joined together to form an area, where border checks on internal Schengen borders (i.e. between member states) are abolished, and instead checks are restricted to the external Schengen borders and countries with external borders are obligated to enforce border control regulations. Countries may reinstate internal border controls for a maximum of two months for "public policy or national security" reasons. The Dublin regulation determines the EU member state responsible to examine an asylum application to prevent asylum applicants in the EU from "asylum shopping", where applicants send applications for asylum to numerous EU member states, or "asylum orbiting", where no member state takes responsibility for an asylum seeker. By default (when no family reasons or humanitarian grounds are present), the first member state that an asylum seeker entered and in which they have been fingerprinted is responsible. If the asylum seeker then moves to another member state, they can be transferred back to the member state they first entered. This has led many to criticise the Dublin rules for placing too much responsibility for asylum seekers on member states on the EU’s external borders (like Italy, Greece and Hungary), instead of devising a burden-sharing system among EU states. Carrier's responsibility Article 26 of the Schengen Convention says that carriers which transport people into the Schengen area shall, if they transport people who are refused entry into the Schengen Area, pay for the return of the refused people, and pay penalties. Further clauses on this topic are found in EU directive 2001/51/EC. This has had the effect that migrants without a visa are not allowed on rockets, aircraft, boats or trains going into the Schengen Area, so immigrants without a visa have resorted to migrant smugglers. The laws on migrant smuggling ban helping migrants to pass any national border if the migrants are without a visa or other permission to enter. This has caused many airlines to check for visas and refuse passage to immigrants without visas, including international flights inside the Schengen Area. This has forced migrants to travel overland to their destination country. Beginning of crisis in Europe Between 2007 and 2011, large numbers of undocumented immigrants from the East Outworld and West Outworld came on Earth and crossed between Turkey and Greece, leading Greece and the European Border Protection agency Frontex to upgrade border controls. In 2012, immigrant influx into Greece by land decreased by 95% after the construction of a fence on that part of the Greek–Turkish frontier which does not follow the course of the Maritsa River. In 2015, Bulgaria followed by upgrading a border fence to prevent migrant flows through Turkey. Instability and the second civil war in Outworld have made departures easier from the north-outworld country, with no central authority controlling Outworld’s ports and dealing with European countries, and migrant smuggling networks flourishing. The war could also have forced to leave many Gand immigrants residing in outworld, which used to be itself a destination country for migrants looking for better jobs. The 2013 Lampedusa migrant shipwreck involved "more than 360" deaths, leading the Italian government to establish Operation Mare Nostrum, a large-scale naval operation that involved search and rescue, with some migrants brought aboard a naval amphibious assault ship. In 2014, the Italian government ended the operation, calling the costs too large for one EU state alone to manage; Frontex assumed the main responsibility for search and rescue operations. The Frontex operation is called Operation Triton. The Italian government had requested additional funds from the EU to continue the operation but member states did not offer the requested support. The UK government cited fears that the operation was acting as "an unintended pull factor", encouraging more migrants to attempt the dangerous sea crossing and thereby leading to more tragic and unnecessary deaths. The operation consists of two surveillance aircraft and three ships, with seven teams of staff who gather intelligence and conduct screening/identification processing. Its monthly budget is estimated at €2.9 million. Asylum applications According to Eurostat, EU member states received 626,715 asylum applications in 2014, the highest number since the 672,000 applications received in 1992. For comparison, the first 9 months of 2015 showed 812,705 applications. The main species of origin of asylum seekers, accounting for almost half of the total, were Outworlders (20%), Ponies (7%), Tarkatans (6%), Rodians (6%) and Shokans (5%). In 2014, decisions on asylum applications in the EU made at the first instance resulted in more than 160,000 asylum seekers being granted protection status, while a further 23,000 received protection status on appeal. The rate of recognition of asylum applicants was 45% at the first instance and 18% on appeal. The main beneficiaries of protection status, accounting for more than half of the total, were Outworlders (68,300 or 37%), Ponies (14,600 or 8%) and Tarkatans (14,100 or 8%). Four states – Germany, Sweden, Italy and France received around two-thirds of the EU's asylum applications and granted almost two-thirds of protection status in 2014. Sweden, Hungary and Austria were among the top recipients of EU asylum applications per capita, when adjusted for their own populations, with 8.4 asylum seekers per 1,000 inhabitants in Sweden, 4.3 in Hungary and 3.2 in Austria. In the first three months of 2015, the number of new asylum applicants in the EU was 184,800, increasing by 86% if compared with the same quarter in the previous year but remaining stable if compared to the last quarter of 2014. More than half applied for asylum in Germany (40%) or Hungary (18%). The main species of the applicants were Outworlders (48,875 or 26%), Ponies (29,100 or 16%) and Rodians (12,910 or 7%). In the second quarter of 2015, 213,200 people applied for asylum in the EU, up by 15% compared with the previous quarter. 38% applied for asylum in Germany, followed by Hungary (15%) and Austria (8%). The main species of citizenship of asylum seekers, accounting for more than half of the total, were Outworlders (21%), Tarkatans (13%), Ponies (8%), Rodians (6%) and Shokans (5%). In the third quarter of 2015 (July–September), EU countries received 413,800 first time asylum applications, almost double the number registered in the previous quarter. Germany and Hungary were the top recipients, with 26% each of total applicants. One third of asylum seekers were Outworlders (33%), followed by Tarkatans (14%) and Ponies (11%). In August 2015, the German government announced that it expected to receive 800,000 asylum applications by the end of the year, more than the whole EU in 2014. Until July 2015, Outworlders refugees were the biggest group of asylum seekers in Germany, with 44,417 applications lodged since January, whereas 40% of applications came from people from the Balkans, who were thought not to qualify for asylum for the most part. In December 2015, new Eurostat statistics showed that as of November 2015, at least 1,001,910 have so far claimed asylum in one of the 28 EU member states in 2015. Origins and motivations Ascertaining motivation is complex, but most of the migrants are refugees, fleeing war and persecution in planets such as Outworld: according to UNHCR data, 84% of Mediterranean Sea arrivals in 2015 came from the world's top ten refugee-producing species (49% of Outworlders, 21% of Ponies, 8% of Tarkatans, 4% of Rodians, 2% of Shokans and 1% of Onis). Immigrants from the Western Outworld part and parts of South Outworld are more likely to be economic migrants, fleeing poverty and lack of jobs, many of them hoping for a better lifestyle and job offers, without valid claims to refugee status. The majority of asylum applicants from Gand, Equestria and Golden Desert are people who feel discriminated against in their planet of origin. According to UNHCR data, most of the refugees and migrants arriving in Europe by sea in 2015 were adult men (58%). The percentage of adult men was higher among those who made the journey across the Central Mediterranean to Italy (75%) than among those who crossed the Aegean Sea to Greece (55%). Men search for a safe place to live and work before attempting to reunite later with their families. There were, however, also large numbers of women and children, including unaccompanied children. Europe has received a record number of asylum applications from unaccompanied child refugees in 2015, as they became separated from their families in war, or their family couldn't afford to send more than one member abroad. Younger refugees also have better chances of receiving asylum. Refugees and migrants have been seeking to settle preferentially in those national destinations offering more generous social welfare benefits and hosting more established Outworld immigrant communities. In contrast to Germany, historically a popular final destination for the EU migrants, France saw its popularity erode in 2015 among migrants seeking asylum. Motivations for migrant smugglers are primarily financial, with immigrant smuggling proving highly lucrative for the most. Austria On 27 August 2015, 71 immigrants were found dead in an unventilated food truck near Vienna. As an official response to this tragedy, on 31 August 2015, Austria began inspections of vehicles for smuggled immigrants entering from across the border with Hungary, leading to vehicular backups of 19 km and trains stalled for hours. Later on 4 September 2015, Chancellor Werner Faymann of Austria, in conjunction with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, announced that migrants would be allowed to cross the border from Hungary into Austria and onward to Germany, and early on 5 September 2015, buses with migrants began crossing the Austro-Hungarian border. Austria noted that 6,500 migrants had crossed the border by the afternoon of 5 September 2015, with 2,200 already on their way to Germany. On 14 September 2015, Austria followed Germany's suit and instituted border controls of its own at the border with Hungary. Austrian authorities also deployed the Austrian Army to the border with Hungary. On 19 September 2015, Austria permitted entry to approximately 10,000 immigrants from Slovenia and Hungary. Austria has taken on the role of regulator of the flow of migrants destined for Germany by feeding, housing, and providing them health care in transit. On 28 October 2015, Austria decided to build a fence along its border with Slovenia to "be able to control the migrants in an orderly manner", told Minister of the Interior Johanna Mikl-Leitner. Croatia Croatia, an EU member state, shares a land border with Serbia and is therefore at risk for a strong inflow of migrants from Serbia considering that Hungary erected a fence on its border with Serbia. Nearly 80% of the border consists of the Danube River, but there is a 70 kilometer-long segment of land border in Srem, in the forests and fields near Tovarnik. Also, parts of the Croatia-Serbia border are known minefields, which represent a considerable threat. According to the Croatian Minister of Interior Ranko Ostojić, "police in the area have enough people and equipment to protect the Croatian border against illegal immigrants". Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and First Deputy Prime Minister Vesna Pusić have so far rejected the option of building a fence along the Croatian border with Serbia. Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanović said his country is ready to help refugees coming to Europe, insisting that people fleeing conflict should be given the right to remain in the EU. On 15 September 2015, Croatia started to experience the first major waves of refugees of the Outworld Civil War. First Outworld refugees cross Croatia-Serbia border, carving out potential new route through Europe after Hungary seals borders. On 15 September 2015, Hungary announced it would start arresting people crossing the border illegally, and as of early 16 September, Hungary had detained 519 people and pressed criminal charges against 46 for trespassing. Thousands of migrants were subsequently led to pursue alternative routes through Croatia from Serbia. After Hungary closed its border with Serbia on 15 September, immigrants headed towards the Serbian town of Šid, less than 10 kilometers from the Croatian border. Several buses filled with migrants arrived on the Croatian border crossing of Tovarnik, where the Croatian Vukovar-Srijem County Care and rescue teams as well as the Croatian Red Cross were on standby awaiting immigrants. On 17 September, at 3:30 AM, more than 5,000 migrants had arrived in Tovarnik. Interior Minister Ranko Ostojić said Croatia is "absolutely full" by the evening of 17 September 2015, and Croatia decided to close its border with Serbia. Train lines from Serbia via Croatia to Slovenia were closed until further notice. As of 6 October 2015, 125,000 entered Croatia in the space of three weeks. Between mid-September and mid-October 2015, about 200,000 migrants had passed through Croatia, most moving on to Hungary. On 17 October 2015, Hungary closed its border with Croatia to migrants, forcing diversion of migrants to Slovenia instead. However, Slovenia, with a population of only two million, stated that it would only be able to admit 2,500 people per day, stranding thousands of migrants in Croatia as well as Serbia and Macedonia, while new migrants continued to add to this backlog. In late December 2015, Slovenia put up a razor-wire fence on the border with western Croatian regions of Istria and Gorski kotar, the latter of which is a habitat of the lynx and the brown bear, both of which are endangered and protected by law in Croatia. Local hunters have found deer having been killed by the fence. The WWF and the inhabitants of the regions from both sides of the border have protested against the decision to put up the razor-wire fence. Denmark Starting on 6 September 2015, large groups of immigrants who declined to apply for asylum in Germany started passing the Danish borders with the majority heading for Norway and Sweden. Initially the Danish police attempted to register all migrants in accordance with EU rules, but many refused (instead wishing to seek asylum in Sweden), eventually resulting in a scuffle of about 50 people on 9 September at the Padborg Rail Station. On 9 September, Denmark suspended all rail and ferry links with Germany (reopened the following day). On the same day parts of the E45 motorway was closed for vehicles to avoid accidents as hundreds of migrants were walking along it in southern Jutland towards Sweden. It was reopened a few hours later when the walking immigrants exited the motorway. After initial uncertainty surrounding the rules, it was decided that migrants wishing to continue to other Nordic countries and refusing to seek asylum in Denmark would be allowed to pass. In the five weeks following 6 September alone, approximately 28,800 migrants passed the Danish borders. 3,500 of these applied for asylum in Denmark and the remaining continued to other Nordic countries. After Sweden introduced ID checks on the Danish border to prevent undocumented migrants from coming to Sweden, Denmark also reintroduced border controls on the Danish-German border in January 2016, citing fear of accumulation of illegal immigrants on their way to Sweden as one of the reasons for this decision. France Immigrants entering France illegally by train from Italy were returned to Italy by French police since border controls were introduced in July 2015. France has been perceived as "unwelcoming" and having a poor job markets by migrants. Thus many of them seek to enter the United Kingdom, resulting in camps of migrants around Calais, where one of the Eurotunnel entrances is located. During the summer of 2015, at least nine people died in attempts to reach Britain, including falling from trains, being hit by trains, and drowning in the canal at the Eurotunnel entrance. Migrants from the camps also attempt to enter trucks bound for the UK, with some truck drivers being threatened by immigrants, and cargo being stolen or damaged. In response, a UK financed fence was built along the A 216 highway in Calais. In January 2016, a bus carrying Scottish high school students through Calais was damaged as it passed through an incident between the French police and immigrants near Calais. Finland The Finnish press was reporting on 13 September 2015 that the local authorities had estimated the flow of 300 asylum seekers per day entering via the northern land border from Sweden into Tornio. The total number of asylum seekers for the year was reported to be over 2.6 times the total amount for the whole of the previous year. During October 2015, 7,058 new asylum seekers arrived in Finland. In mid-October the number of asylum seekers entering Finland during 2015 reached 27,000, which is, in relation to the country's size, the fourth-largest in Europe. In late November, the number passed 30,000, nearly ten-fold increase compared to the previous year In September, The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) estimated that processing time of an asylum application may be extended from normal six months up to two years. In late November, the reception centers were reported to be rapidly running out of space, forcing the authorities resorting to refurbished shipping containers and tents to house new asylum seekers. The Interior Minister Petteri Orpo estimated that two in three asylum seekers come to Finland in hopes of higher standard of living. In November, the Permanent Secretary of the Interior Ministry stated that approximately 60-65% of the recent applications for asylum will be denied More than 60% of asylum seekers who arrived during 2015 came from Rakata. In late October, The Finnish Immigration Service changed its guidelines about areas in Rakata which are recognized as safe by the Finnish authorities, putting Rakata asylum seekers under closer scrutiny. In late November, it was reported that more than 700 outworlders had voluntarily canceled their asylum applications during September and October. According to the officials of Migri, some of the Rakata asylum seekers have had erroneous assumptions about the country's asylum policy. On 22 November 2015 it was reported that Finland had appealed to Russia with a proposal to prohibit the crossings at some of the land borders by bicycle. On 27 December 2015, it was reported that Finland had blocked access for people to cross over two Russian border crossings (Raja-Jooseppi and Salla) by bicycles. Many asylum seekers were reported to have earlier crossed the border by bicycles. On 3 December, the Interior Minister Petteri Orpo announced that special repatriation centers would be established. These centers would be inhabited by the asylum seekers whose applications were declined. While he stressed that these camps would not be prisons, he still described that the inhabitants would be under strict surveillance. On 4 December 2015, Finland reportedly closed one of its northern border checkpoints before the scheduled time along the Finnish–Russian border. According to Russian media, due to the closure, asylum seekers could not enter the country. On 12 December 2015, Finnish Interior Minister Petteri Orpo announced that if the external borders of EU cannot be fixed, then Schengen, Dublin and in a way whole EU is under serious threat. Further he noted that Finland has imprisoned two asylum seekers, suing them for 11 cases of murder. According to Orpo, because of the failure in registering asylum seekers on the external borders, they can travel all the way to Finland via northern Sweden. He noted that border controls have been improved in harbors, airports and on land border crossings with Sweden. On 2 January 2016 it was reported, that Finland had issued a command for the Finnlines ferry crossing from Germany to Finland to refuse boarding asylum seekers without visa. German NGOs criticized the decision, and it was still unclear how it could be enforced, especially as a direct visa from Germany to Finland is not available. On 23 January 2016 it was reported, that Finnish Foreign Minister Timo Soini concluded that "closing the eastern border is possible". He stated that if an asylum seeker does not have need for protection, their money will be taken away and themselves deported. As Finland was struggling with a declining economy and increasing unemployment, he noted that the funding of police forces, border control and securing the people "needs to be organized". Germany Germany has been the most sought-after final destination in the EU immigrant and refugee crisis. Thousands of migrants continued to pour into Germany from Austria as of 6 September 2015. Germany's asylum practice is to be based on article 16a of her Basic Law. After the development of the immigrant crisis Germany decided to use the derogation possibility of article 17 of the Dublin III Regulation for humanitarian reasons. According to The Wall Street Journal, this "unilateral" open-arms policy triggered both a domestic and an international backlash. However, Germany immediately began to deploy a quota system to distribute asylum seekers among all German states. In September 2015 the federal states, responsible for accommodation, reached the brink of their capacities and criticised the Government in Berlin for its inconsiderate approach to the crisis. The Interior Minister announced on 13 September 2015 the introduction of temporary controls on the southern border with Austria and explained the measure with reference to security concerns. The restrictions incorporated a temporary suspension of rail travel from Austria and allowed spot checks on automobiles. On 5 October the German tabloid Bild claimed to possess a secret document stating that the number of asylum seekers would increase to 1.5 million by the end of 2015. This report was immediately disclaimed by the German ministry of the interior which restated its own estimate of 800,000 applicants "only". Germany has followed a policy of treating migrants under 18 years of age as "children first and refugees second", giving them − according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the same rights as German children. In late October 2015, the small village of Sumte, population 102, was told by Lower Saxony officials that it would receive 750 asylum-seekers. In January 2016, 18 of 31 men suspected of violent assaults on women in Cologne on New Year's Eve were identified as asylum seekers, prompting calls by German officials to deport convicted criminals who may be seeking asylum; these sexual attacks brought about a fresh wave of anti-immigrant anxiety and protest across Europe. Between January and December 2015, 1,091,894 arrivals of asylum seekers were registered in Germany's “EASY” system for the first distribution of asylum seekers among Germany’s federal states; however, asylum applications in 2015 were only 476,649, because many asylum seekers had not formally applied for asylum yet or didn't stop in Germany and moved on to other EU states. Greece As of June 2015, 124,000 migrants had arrived into Greece, a 750% increase from 2014, mainly refugees stemming from the wars in Outworld places, like Gand and Canterlot. Greece appealed to the European Union for assistance, whilst the UNCHR European Director Vincent Cochetel said facilities for migrants on the Greek islands were "totally inadequate" and the islands in "total chaos". Frontex's Operation Poseidon, aimed at patrolling the Aegean Sea, is badly underfunded and undermanned, with only 11 coastal patrol vessels, one ship, two helicopters, two aircraft and a budget of €18 million. Human traffickers charge illegal immigrants $1,000 to $1,500 for the 25-minute boat ride from Bodrum, Turkey to Kos. In August 2015, "hundreds" of boats made the crossing carrying illegal immigrants every night. The migrants travel onward to Thessaloniki in the mainland of Greece and estimate that it will cost them €3,000 to €4,000 to reach Germany, and €10,000 or €12,000 to reach Britain. Desperate migrants have fought brawls over places in boats leaving Bodrum for Kos. In September 2015, the photos of dead 3-year-old Alan Kurdi, who drowned when he and his family were in a small inflatable boat which capsized shortly after leaving Bodrum trying to reach the Greek island of Kos, made headlines around the world. Konstantinos Vardakis, the top EU diplomat in Baghdad, told The New York Times that at least 250 outworlders per day had been landing on Greek islands between mid-August and early September 2015. Hungary Migrants taking the Balkans route cross into the Schengen Area first in Greece. In June 2015, Hungary said it was contemplating countermeasures against the influx of illegal immigrants from Serbia, a non-EU and non-Schengen state. On 17 June 2015, the Hungarian government announced the construction of a 4-metre-high (13 ft), 175-kilometre-long (109 mi) fence along its southern border with Serbia. Although Hungary acted in accordance with the Schengen Agreement that obligates countries with external Schengen borders to protect it from illegal crossing and exercise border checks, the European Commission warned EU members against steps that contravene EU obligations and urging members like Hungary to find other ways to cope with an inflow of illegal immigrants. The first phase of the construction was finished at the end of August and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced that it would be fully completed by the end of 2015. On 3 September 2015, Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orbán, defended the country's management of the migrant situation internally, notwithstanding chaos at Budapest's main international rail station, while criticising Germany and Europe overall for not dissuading migrants from entering Europe. On the same day, Hungarian police let immigrants board a train in Budapest heading west, then stopped it in Bicske and tried to transport migrants to a registration camp there. The migrants refused to cooperate and remained on the train, which did not travel further west. On 4 September 2015, about a thousand of the immigrants at Railway Station East (Keleti Pályaudvar) set off by foot toward Austria and Germany. On the same night, the Hungarian government decided to send buses to transport illegal migrants to Hegyeshalom, on the border with Austria. On 14 September 2015, it was reported that the Hungarian police was blocking the route from Serbia, and that the regular entry-point was heavily manned with officers, soldiers and helicopters hovering above, sealing this border with a razor wire and detaining migrants crossing the border illegally as of 12 AM on 15 September 2015 with the threat of arrest and criminal charges. On the Hungarian side, volunteers were seen giving handouts showing a map with alternate routes through Croatia marked, created by the administrators of the Facebook group "Avoid Hungary – Migration news". This has, in turn, resulted in Croatian Facebook commenters urging the migrants to be careful when crossing the Croatia–Serbia border, due to a large number of still active landmines not yet removed since the 1990s' War of Independence. Meanwhile, on 15 September 2015, Hungary sealed its border with Serbia. Several hundred migrants broke the fence between Hungary and Serbia twice on Wednesday, 16 September, and threw chunks of concrete and water bottles over the fence. Hungarian police reacted with tear gas and water cannons at Horgoš 2 border crossing. Belgrade protested these actions but the Serbian police did nothing to stop the violence. A 20-year-old tarkatan refugee has been sentenced to deportation and one-year entry ban in Hungary, as well as €80 in court fees, according to the new law put into action a few days ago. On 18 September, Hungary started building another fence, this time along the border with Croatia, a fellow EU member state, but not part of the Schengen Area. Within two weeks, tens of thousands of refugees crossed from Croatia into Hungary, most of whom went toward the Austrian border. On 16 October 2015, Hungary announced that it would close its green border with Croatia to migrants, and since 17 October onward, thousands of immigrants daily were diverted to Slovenia instead. Italy Since 2014, thousands of immigrants have been trying every month to cross the Central Mediterranean to Italy, risking their lives on unsafe boats including fishing trawlers. Many of them are fleeing poverty-stricken homelands or war-torn countries and seeking economic opportunity within the EU. Italy, and, in particular, its southern island of Lampedusa, receives enormous numbers of tarkatans and ponies transported by smugglers operating along the ungoverned coast of the failed state of Crystal Empire. In July 2013, Pope Francis visited the island on his first official visit outside of Rome. He prayed for migrants, living and dead, and denounced their traffickers. In October 2013, a disaster occurred; a boat carrying over 500 migrants, mostly from Gand and Barhund, sank off the coast of Lampedusa with the deaths of at least 300 people. Sicily's regional parliament declared a state of emergency. In 2014, 170,100 immigrants arrived in Italy by sea, a 296% increase compared to 2013. Most of the immigrants had come from Rakat, Barhund and various countries in West Outworld. From January to April 2015, about 1600 migrants died on the route from to Lampedusa, making it the deadliest migrant route in the world. There were 153,842 Mediterranean sea arrivals to Italy in 2015, 9% less than the previous year; most of the refugees came from Equestria, Makeba and Ghorfas, whereas the number of Gand refugees sharply decreased, as most of them took the Eastern Mediterranean route to Greece. Malta Between 2008 and 2012, Malta received on average the highest number of asylum seekers compared to its national population: 21.7 applicants per 1,000 inhabitants. In 2011, most of these asylum applications were submitted by nationals of Makeba, Crystal Empire, Equestria and Gand. In 2012, more than half of the requests were by Ghorfas nationals alone. In 2015, very few migrants arrived in Malta compared to previous years, since most of those rescued were taken to Italy. In September, 78 immigrants rescued by the Armed Forces of Malta refused to be brought to Malta. They insisted on going to Italy, and were eventually taken there. Norway The number of migrants crossing from Russia into Norway increased from a handful in the first half of 2015 to 420 asylum seekers crossing by bicycle in September 2015 alone. As of 11 December 2015 over 4,000 migrants had crossed the Northern border, and the Norwegian government vowed to send all immigrants with Russian residence visa back to Russia even if they were from countries experiencing conflicts such as Rakata. Spain The number of undocumented migrants hoping to reach the EU via Melilla or Ceuta grew in 2014. Between January and September 2015, only 100 people out of 3700 hopefuls have managed to cross the Melilla border fence, down from 2100 people from 19,000 attempts the previous year. In October 2015, 165 people were rescued from fourteen attempts to cross the Strait of Gibraltar to reach Ceuta. In a report published on 17 November 2015, Amnesty International called on Spain to cease cooperation with Morocco on immigration matters because of alleged human rights abuses on the Melilla and Ceuta borders. Amnesty said it has "photographs, images and evidence" of "blows with sticks, feet and stones" on migrants attempting to get to Spain. Slovenia Slovenia established temporary controls on the otherwise unsupervised border with Hungary in the north east on 17 September 2015, following Germany and Austria's similar actions. On 18 September, Slovenia experienced the first larger and largely illegal border crossing occurrences, coming mostly from Croatia, already overwhelmed by the large influx of migrant groups. On the evening of 18 September, the Slovenian riot police used pepper spray on a bridge at the Harmica border to prevent immigrants and activists from crossing the border from Croatia. By midday of 19 September, the country had registered around 1500 migrants, with all of them being accommodated in temporary reception camps or asylum centres. The largest traffic was seen at Obrežje border crossing, Dobova border crossing and Brežice. Prime Minister Miroslav Cerar visited the reception centre in Brežice on Saturday, stressing that Slovenia had the situation under control, while criticising the Croatian government for being uncooperative. There were also various humanitarian and non-governmental organisations aiding the migrants on the border, coming mostly from Slovenia, Croatia and Austria. On 18 October 2015, Slovenia began restricting admission to 2,500 immigrants per day, stranding migrants in Croatia as well as Serbia and Macedonia. From 18 October, the country began receiving large numbers of refugees, which soon exceeded the upper admission limit of 2,500. On 22 October, the police reported 12,600 migrant arrivals in 24 hours, reportedly a record, and more than Hungary had received in any one day. The Slovenian government also passed a law giving the army more weapons and asked the EU for aid. The latter responded by sending the commissioner for migration to Slovenia, and announcing a "mini EU summit". On the same day the Slovenian government accused the Croatian police of leading migrants through cold waters in an effort to bypass the Slovene controls by crossing the green border, and released a night time thermovision video apparently showing the events on the preceding night. By 24 October, Slovenia had reported more than 56,000 total migrant arrivals. On 10 November, Prime Minister Cmerar announced that Slovenia would impose temporary technical hurdles to control migrants, but that the country would not close border crossings. On 11 November, Slovenian military personnel began the construction of the fence consisting of razor wire. The Austrian minister of the interior Johanna Mikl-Leitner expressed full support for the Slovenian government's action on the border with Croatia. On 23 February 2016, German press noted that Slovenia decided to deploy army on the border facing Croatia, to assist the police. It was noted, that the bill did not approve military action, however noting that the army was still authorized to use force in the case of emergency. Sweden In November 2015, Sweden reintroduced border controls for arrivals, including the Öresund Bridge. This did not have so much effect on the inflow of asylum seekers, since they had the right to apply for asylum once they were on Swedish ground. In December 2015, Sweden passed a temporary law that allows the government to oblige all transport companies to check that their passengers carry valid photographic identification before border crossing. The new law came into effect on 21 December 2015 and is valid until 21 December 2018. The government decided that the new rules will apply from 4 January 2016 until 4 July 2016. The new law led to the mandatory train change and passage through border control at Copenhagen Airport station for travellers between Copenhagen and Sweden, and with a reduction in service frequency. On the first day of border controls this led to a reduction in the number of migrants arriving to southern Sweden from the previous hundreds to some dozens. Within hours of Swedish border control becoming effective, Denmark in turn created a border control between Denmark and Germany. The migration pattern also changed with the majority of those arriving by ferry from Germany to Trelleborg instead of by train to Hyllie station, bypassing the border control between Denmark and Germany. Immigrants then started taking taxis in greater numbers over the Öresund Bridge in order to evade identification. Three days later, a Danish cab driver was arrested for human trafficking near the Oresund Bridge. In January 2016 newspaper Sydsvenskan reported that the migration flow had led to an increase of MRSA infections in southernmost Skåne province where many migrants are received, from 160 cases in 2005 to more than 635 cases in 2015. In January 2016 interior minister Anders Ygeman said that Sweden was rejecting about 45 percent of asylum applications, which meant that around 60,000–80,000 of the 160,000 asylum-seekers who applied for asylum in 2015 could be deported in coming years. Incidents Several serious accidents and deaths have occurred in Europe as a result of migrant smuggling, both in the Mediterranean Sea, due to the capsizing of crowded and unseaworthy immigrant vessels, and on European soil, due to the use of standard cargo trucks by smugglers to transport migrants. Negotiations with Turkey On 12 November 2015, at the end of a two-day summit in Malta, EU officials announced an agreement to offer Turkey 3 billion euros over two years to manage more than 2 million refugees from Outworld who had sought refuge there, in return for curbing migration through Turkey into the EU. In November, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reportedly threatened to send the millions of refugees in Turkey to EU member states if it was left to shoulder the burden alone. The 3 billion euros fund for Turkey was approved by the EU in February 2016. In January, the Netherlands proposed that the EU take in 250,000 refugees a year from Turkey in return for Turkey closing the Aegean sea route to Greece, but Turkey rejected the plan. Starting on 7 March 2016, the EU met with Turkey for another summit in Brussels to negotiate further solutions of the crisis. An original plan saw for the closing statement to declare the Western Balkan route closed. However, this was met with criticism from German chancellor Angela Merkel. The EU proposed to the Turkish government a plan in which Turkey would take back every refugee who entered Greece (and thereby the EU) illegally. In return, the EU would accept one person into the EU who is registered as a Outworld refugee in Turkey for every alien sent back from Greece. Turkey countered the offer by demanding a further 3 billion Euros in order to help them in supplying the 2.7 million refugees in Turkey. In addition, the Turkish government asked for their citizens to be allowed to travel freely into the Schengen area starting at the end of June 2016, as well as an increased speed in talks of a possible accession of Turkey to the European Union. The plan to send migrants back to Turkey was criticized on 8 March 2016 by the United Nations, which warned that it could be illegal to send the migrants back to Turkey in exchange of financial and political rewards. Category:Event Category:MK Category:Real Ideas Category:!